FRIDAY’S SubZERO bills itself as a “DIY, artistically bent, hi/lo-techno mashup where street meets geek.” That’s a lot to live up to. In a music world that’s seen it all, what could they possibly come up with that would be truly cutting edge?
Hip-hop taiko, maybe? Yeah, that would probably do it. Sure to be the most talked about spectacle at this year’s festival is the collaboration between San Jose’s breakout hip-hop crew the Bangerz and the Japanese drumming ensemble San Jose Taiko.
Though superficially a study in Old World vs. New World, their collaboration isn’t as unlikely as it might seem. The two groups have several things in common, the first of which is that while both are now known for their artistry around the world, they somehow remain mostly under the radar in their own hometown.
The Bangerz came to prominence on the first season of America’s Best Dance Crew in 2008, as the DJs responsible for the sound behind masked winners JabbaWockeeZ. JabbaWockeeZ returned to the show last month to perform a routine set to the Bangerz’ new single “Robot Remains” that was maybe the most eerily realistic robodancing ever executed.
San Jose Taiko formed in 1973 and through years of international touring has come to be one of the most critically acclaimed, progressive taiko groups to come out of this country.
Just how forward-thinking, though, didn’t become clear until this collaboration, which started with, of all things, a phone booth.
It was the booth that San Jose Taiko associate artistic director Franco Imperial and a few other members of the group were moving from Brian Eder and Cherri Lakey’s former office for Two Fish Design (into which SJT had just moved) to their other space, Anno Domini. Eta noticed how many younger members San Jose Taiko had, and suggested to Imperial that they ought to collaborate with one of San Jose’s up-and-coming groups.
Nothing came of it right away, but Eta and Imperial became friends. One day, Eta made a point of introducing Imperial to the Bangerz.
“We were at Left Coast Live last year,” Imperial remembers, and he said, ‘You gotta check out these guys. You guys would work really well together.'”
Imperial was immediately drawn to the six-man crew’s style and rhythm. They talked about collaborating, and finally set a date for the SubZERO festival.
For Imperial, it was a natural step for the group. He’d been frustrated that for all their success, the audiences in their native city really only got to see a small part of what they do, usually in outdoor festivals.
“The festivals are very important to our mission. They’re the heart of what we do for our cultural community. But they only show one side of what we believe is a multidimensional form,” he says. “San Jose Taiko has always been known for taking traditional taiko and trying to make it more contemporary.” He also found the Bangerz to be great collaborators.
“These are very down-to-earth guys to work with. They’re a world famous DJ crew, but they’re really proud of their roots in San Jose,” says Imperial.
It would be reasonable to wonder how the huge sound of taiko could be paired with the intricate beats of the Bangerz. How it works is that the Bangerz will perform a set, and near the end they’ll be joined by San Jose Taiko, who’ll perform a composition written by Imperial. From there, the “mashup” aspect will ramp up, with the two groups playing off of each other. The end result, while structured within the context of particular songs, will have a jam-session quality to it, allowing both groups to build on the other’s sounds to show off what they do.
Movement is also an important part of the performance, with Taiko performing choreographed moves to the music.
Imperial doesn’t however, want audiences to get the impression this is some kind of America’s Best Dance Crew redux.
“We’re not dancers in the way that Jabberwockiez is. I hope people don’t expect that,” he says. “What we do is quite different.”
San Jose Taiko performs with the Bangerz June 4 at 11pm at the SubZERO Festival
The festival begins at 6pm, with performances by Tsigoti, Corpus Callosum and Ben Henderson
